Pubdate: Sun, 10 Mar 2002
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2002 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author:  Ed Quillen
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/campaign.htm (ONDCP Media Campaign)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

DESPITE CLEVER PACKAGING, IT'S STILL A FRAUD

When George W. Bush campaigned for the presidency, more than a few people 
had the impression that he wasn't quite the brightest bulb on the tree.

In American politics and pop culture, that doesn't hurt. Hollywood often 
offers movies where the brilliant but ruthless protagonist suffers a brain 
injury or the like and becomes a decent and caring human being, even if 
somewhat feeble-minded.

Thus in one major cultural influence, intelligence is often equated with 
evil, and our pop culture villains have been geniuses ever since Lex Luthor 
first thwarted Superman, and probably long before that. As for politics, 
Bush was following eight years of Bill Clinton - and even Clinton's worst 
enemies would never accuse of him of being stupid, no matter how many 
stupid things he did. Someone who mangled English syntax could look like a 
refreshing change.

That said, each day I am more impressed by the cleverness of the Bush 
administration in the art of packaging - tying things together, even if 
they don't really fit.

In this case, it consists of taking a popular war against al Qaeda, and 
packaging it with a failed War on Drugs. The result is a $3.2 million 
propaganda campaign that began as Super Bowl commercials and has continued 
to infest our airwaves.

The ads tell us that the purchase of illegal substances helps finance 
terrorist organizations, and the United States is, of course, at war with 
terrorist organizations.

That's not entirely a lie, but as truth goes, it's more like a Clinton 
statement, in that it takes a fair amount of contortion to make it even 
technically true.

For instance, if you purchase an uncontrollable substance that originated 
in Colombia - marijuana or cocaine, say - some of the money might end up in 
the hands of the rebels who control part of the country. From what I read, 
they're not nice people.

But it's mostly happenstance that drugs are involved, since rebel forces 
use whatever they can get their hands on when they need money. Colombia 
happens to enjoy the proper climate and soil to produce cocaine and hemp. 
But note that a few years ago, some not-so-nice forces in Africa were 
financing their dirty work by exporting diamonds since their territory held 
some diamond mines.

The drug politics of Afghanistan make this even weirder. According to the 
United Nations' drug control program, about 220,000 acres were devoted to 
opium poppy growing in 2000. Then the Taliban cracked down; in 2001, that 
dropped to less than 9,000 acres. But as the Northern Alliance now gains 
territory with our support, farmers are switching back to poppies. The 
connection between terrorism and drugs runs precisely opposite what we're 
told by our government's drug propaganda ministry.

Further, if it's a global financial network that puts drug money into 
terrorist organizations, why are the feds still so rabid in going after 
people who grow their own? It's hard to imagine how that could "help a 
bomber get a passport," but the Bush administration believes we're stupid 
enough to believe such things, especially if they're repeated often enough 
in prime time.

This does inspire some speculation. Will we soon see ads that say ""The 
next time you turn on, that is, turn on a light switch, you could be 
helping finance more Enron shenanigans" or ""When you pay your phone bill, 
are you aware that Qwest has supported corrupt enterprises like the Salt 
Lake Olympic Organizing Committee?"

And here's the big question - why is there so much money in the drug trade? 
Because drugs are illegal. Last I checked - this was long ago, so the 
numbers have likely changed - legal cocaine was $5 a gram, and the illegal 
stuff was $100.

That $95 difference is what the government says finances all manner of 
nastiness, and that $95 difference is also the result of government 
actions. If we were serious about taking the immense profits out of drugs, 
we'd be trying some other approach.

But the White House hasn't announced any other approaches, just more of the 
same Draconian stuff that hasn't worked for the past 30 years and shows no 
promise of working during the next 30.

People were catching on. Medical marijuana initiatives passed in many 
states, including Colorado. Some elected officials, like New Mexico Gov. 
Gary Johnson, became brave enough to utter the truth in public - that the 
War on Drugs is a miserable failure, with no prospects for victory, no 
matter how many urine samples we take and how many prisons we build.

And of course, those developments had to be thwarted, or else thousands of 
snoops, informants, meddlers, counselors and prison guards would lose their 
jobs.

So, the Bush administration contrived a new scheme: Package the unpopular 
war on drugs with the popular war on terrorists. Such cleverness speaks 
well for their intelligence. Believing this swill, though, would not speak 
well for ours.
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MAP posted-by: Ariel